Libya

MOSUL // Surrounded and hemmed into a small pocket in western Mosul, ISIL is drawing on its women to stave off defeat in the bitter battle for the city. Female fighters and suicide bombers are increasingly common on the frontlines, according to Iraqi soldiers battling the extremists in Mosul, where …

WASHINGTON // The United States should consider moving its air base out of Qatar, the Emirati ambassador to the US said on Tuesday, encouraging the Trump administration to use its leverage to further pressure Qatar over alleged support for extremism. As the Arabian Gulf crisis enters its second week, Ambassador …

MUSCAT // Oman Air has increased flights by 25 per cent since Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Bahrain and Egypt cut transport links to Qatar on June 5. The airline, which made a loss of 129.5 million rials (Dh1.24 billion) in 2016, is using five new Boeing 787 Dreamliner aircraft to …

Qamishli, Syria // US-backed fighters battled ISIL on Thursday as they tried to push further into the extremists’ Syrian bastion Raqqa, two days after finally entering the northern city. The Syrian Democratic Forces alliance of Kurdish and Arab fighters began the battle for the city this week after seven months …

KOCHO, IRAQ // When Naif Jasso rolled across the arid plains of Sinjar with his group of Yazidi fighters, it was the end of a journey home that had taken almost three years. Mr Jasso and his men were on their way to the village of Kocho, riding on pick …

TEHRAN // Gunmen and suicide bombers have attacked Iran’s parliament and the tomb of revolutionary founder Ruhollah Khomeini killing several people. A security guard and one other person were killed when four gunmen burst into Tehran’s parliament complex with rifles and a pistol, according to the ISNA news agency. One …

ABU DHABI // The US president backed the Saudi and Emirati position on Qatar in the gravest crisis ever to face the GCC. Donald Trump’s comments came as Sheikh Sabah, the emir of Kuwait, left for Saudi Arabia on Tuesday for talks aimed at resolving the fallout between Qatar and …

ABU DHABI // Qatar residents rushed to stock up food supplies on Monday following news that Saudi Arabia would close the country’s only land border, leaving some supermarkets with rows of empty shelves. By late afternoon, strawberry milk was the only item left in the dairy aisle of one Doha …

Here’s the full statement just released by the UAE Ministry of Foreign Affairs on breaking off diplomatic ties with Qatar: “The UAE affirms its complete commitment and support to the Gulf Cooperation Council and to the security and stability of the GCC States. Within this framework, and based on the …

The Bahraini government announced on Sunday an indefinite ban on the independent Al Wasat newspaper, accusing it of publishing “what sows division” in the kingdom. The ministry of information affairs said it had decided to bar the newspaper’s publication and stop its circulation “until further notice”, without specifying if the …